Impact
by Unoriginality
Summary: Edward gets cornered by a fellow student one afternoon, who presents an unusual theory about the impact of movement.


Too many of the people he might see at the university there in Munich where his father worked were pompus, arrogant and seemed to think they knew nearly everything, and what they didn't know, nobody except them could ever hope to figure out. It wasn't, unfortunately, just the teachers, although they were certainly bad enough on their own merits, his father the worst offender of them all in his own quiet way. Certainly, some of the students were bright, and eager to learn like he'd been so many years ago, rather than assume they already knew it all, but those students were almost more intolerable for that very reason.

He was almost envious of that enthusiasm, eager to learn simply for the sake of learning. How many years had it been since he'd done that, rather than seeking information in the drive for some impossible goal?

Too long, really. Human transmutation, the Philosopher's Stone, a way home. And every goal he sought, what he learned weighed heavier and heavier on his mind and once you know, you can't _un_know.

Edward rarely spoke with his classmates; why should he? He was completely alien and foreign to them, an ill-fitting piece from the wrong puzzle. He knew everything he wanted to except how to get home to his brother, and those that wanted to know everything never would and those who thought they already did never _could_. Life taught what the classroom could not, and nobody he'd bothered to talk to seemed to have learned from the Great War.

There was an unbridgable gap between himself and his fellow students, and he was fine with that.

So it took him a bit by surprise when one of them followed him after class to approach him.

He hadn't even realized he'd been followed until he was comfortably seated in the back-most pew in the old cathedral not far from the university campus. He went there everyday after class, for what reason he couldn't put into words. It was quiet there, and he was left to himself to think, the occasional sister or priest leaving him to 'pray' in peace.

A church had been the last building he'd stood in in his world before he'd descended the stairs of the rabbit hole into Hell and eventually found his way here. He supposed he was hoping that the rabbit hole would open back up to him if he waited in the right place.

"Excuse me?"

It took Edward a moment to realize he was being spoken to, and he looked up, blinking a couple times at the young man standing in the aisle next to him. Another moment ticked by before he recognized him as a fellow student. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to ignore-"

"Oh no, no I'm sorry if I'm disturbing your prayer," the man interrupted quickly, then held out his hand. "The name's Werner. I believe we're in Professor Sommerfeld's class together."

A bit more recognition. "Oh, right. Sorry I didn't quite recognize-"

"Quite all right," Werner interrupted again. "Mind if I join you?"

A small frown crossed his face, but he shook his head as he moved over a bit to let the man sit. "Go ahead."

"Thanks." Werner flashed him a grin as he settled into the spot Edward had just vacated for him, glancing around. "Your name's Edward, right? Professor Hohenheim's son?"

Edward fought back a sigh as he looked back towards the front of the church. "That's right."

"Pleasure to finally visit with you. Never thought I'd be able to corner you for a bit of conversation. You're a hard one to catch, you know." He was clearly babbling nervously, and Edward bit back his frustration. "Certainly never thought I'd get to talk to you in a Catholic church of all places. Do you attend often?"

He groaned inwardly. _Well, here's a hiding place I just lost_, he thought with no small amount of irritation, then opened his mouth to reply.

"Oh, don't worry, I don't plan to bother you all the time," Werner cut him off, turning his head to look at him. "I just didn't take you for a Catholic is all."

"I'm not-"

"I'm Lutheran myself," he continued without pause, beaming proudly at his declaration. "Born and raised. Never could understand all the 'Hail Mary's' and such." He turned a bit red-faced when he realized what he said and Edward sat back, arms crossed and a wearily amused expression on his face as he listened to Werner's prattling. "Not that it's all necessarily bad, I mean. That's what you believe, right?"

"I don't know," he replied easily, a wry look on his face. "You tell me, since you're the one that came to that conclusion."

Werner turned another shade redder. "I'm sorry, I just assumed since you were _here_..."

"Don't worry about it," Edward told him with a slight wave of his hand. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" _Probably wants me to set up a meeting with my father_, he thought with no little amount of tired irritation.

"Well, I'd been thinking, after hearing the argument you had with Professor Sommerfeld over the energy levels in atoms, that maybe you would be willing to help me with an idea I had."

That made Edward raise an eyebrow slightly. Certainly not what he expected. "Oh?"

Werner nodded enthusiastically, clearly encouraged that Edward didn't immediately refuse. "Yes, a hypothesis of sorts. The professors keep going on and on about the theoretical reaction of atoms at a state of absolute zero, but I was thinking, what if attaining absolute zero is impossible? It certainly would make more sense, wouldn't it?"

Edward tilted his head to the side, lifting one hand to rest his cheek against his hand as his other eyebrow raised. "Impossible? Care to explain?" _Of course he would, he's just waiting for you to say that, you know_, he told himself with some small measure of amusement.

"Absolutely!" Werner turned in his seat to face Edward. "Well, perhaps I should amend myself a bit. It would be utterly impossible to measure if an atom is at absolute zero. We cannot measure both movement and position without impacting the atom. The more precise our measurement of its movement or lack thereof, the less accurate our measurement of the position, thereby changing the position, and thereby moving it out of absolute zero."

Edward's mind turned that one over for a bit, then he smiled faintly. "By existing in the world, we impact it, and therefore are always moving, then?"

Werner blinked, the excited demeanor fading into confusion. "I suppose so? I would never have thought to put it in such broad terms. Are you a philosopher?"

Edward shook his head. "No. Science _is_ my philosophy. I just have a tendency to be fairly abstract sometimes," he admitted with a shrug. "But that's an interesting theory. Do you have an equation for this principle?"

Werner nodded. "I do. Well, I'm still working on it, anyway. It's not quite perfect." He pulled out a pen and a small notepad from his inner coat pocket and scribbled down an equation full of Greek symbols that Edward understood better than he understood German.

Taking the notepad, Edward studied the equation. "Change this to h, then that becomes delta-p," he said, pointing to part of the equation. "Try running that, it might come out better."

Werner took back the notepad, making the instructed change, then started running some more equations. After a few minutes, his grin returned, threatening to break his face. "This is why I wanted to talk to you about this," he said. "You're a certifiable genius, Edward. Thank you. I'll give you credit when I finish my research and publish my findings."

"No, that's all right," Edward said, waving him off. "Just make sure your work is sound, that's all I ask."

"Speaking of work," Werner said, tucking way the pen and notepad as he got to his feet, "I have some to do now, with this new equation. Sorry to just talk and run like this, but-"

"Go on." Edward grinned. Maybe it was still nice to see an eager mind discovering something new. Not that it was anything Edward hadn't already known; he recognized that equation from the Gate, and seeing it had brought the knowledge bubbling up to the front of his mind. Studying for him was less a foray into the unknown and more a trip down memory lane.

"It was nice meeting you, Edward." Werner held out his hand and continued as Edward took it. "Try not to be such a stranger. Your classmates wouldn't mind a chance to get to know you."

With that, he was gone, leaving Edward once again with his thoughts.

"By existing in the world, we impact it, and therefore are always moving, huh?" he said quietly to himself, looking back at the altar. If the possibility of zero was zero, then paradoxically, there was zero chance that there was zero chance of getting home to Al.

He could live with that.

"Keep impacting the world, Al," he whispered. "And I'll do the same. We'll find each other again."


End file.
